


A Fly In The Wall - The Hospital

by Leni



Series: Rumbelle Meme - Fluffy Fluff McFluff [15]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 20:31:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8682388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: For the rest of their lives, the staff at the emergency room in Storybrooke Hospital would remember this night.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Of_Princes_and_Savages](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Of_Princes_and_Savages/gifts).



> Prompt: tranquil

For the rest of their lives, the staff at the emergency room in Storybrooke Hospital would remember this night. Two in the morning on a Sunday should have been a restful time, just nurses chatting softly while their patients rested and the few doctors on call dozing in the exam rooms.

No car crashes, in a town where most of the population was used to doing their errands on foot. No gun violence - not even a sword slipping off its owner's grip to sever their toes, or some misfired arrow. 

It was the very picture of small town life.

Or it had been, until a dark cloud of magic appeared in the middle of the room.

"It's time," one of the nurses whispered, pointing at one of her younger colleagues and getting a nod in return.

Dr. Whale would be paged at once.

There were earthquake drills, fire drills. Evacuation drills for when a giant or wraith decided to trample the town. And then there was the newest protocol for when the Dark One's wife decided to deliver their baby in the hospital.

"Mr. Gold," the head nurse greeted the wild-eyed father-to-be, keeping her voice even and her gaze tranquil. Then she nodded at the young woman in his arms. "Mrs. Gold. Are you sure this time?"

The Dark One growled in response.

It was Mrs. Gold who answered more civilly. "I think now I can tell the difference between Braxton Hicks contractions and the real thing." She tried to smile, but instead made a pained face. "Gods, I wish I didn't."

_Don't we all_ , the nurse thought, but was wise enough not to say it out loud. No need to stress the fact that Mrs. Gold was in pain.

The Dark One had been in a panic the first time he brought his wife, for all it had been a false alarm. He seemed to have been operating under the assumption that his magic would spare Mrs. Gold any discomfort during labor. Finding out that his spells didn't affect her had left them dealing with a scowling man who'd threatened to bring the hospital down around their ears if they didn't take care of his wife at once.

Only the fact that he could actually keep his promise had made all staff present wary. The words themselves they'd let slide, being used to such and worse from worried relatives.

The emergency room never brought out the best in people.

"It's all right, Mr. Gold," the head nurse said, indicating one of the orderlies to bring over the wheelchair.

The Dark One didn't spare anyone as much as a glance as he helped his wife to lower herself onto the seat. He looked over her with wide worried eyes, and only seemed to breathe out when Mrs. Gold smiled.

"It's time, Rumple," the nurse heard her say.

She tried not to shiver at the intimacy expressed in that nickname. To treat him so tenderly was anathema in her mind. The Dark One might have settled as a business man in town, but nobody was fooled into believing he was any tamer than he had been in the Enchanted Forest.

The rumor said that they had been dragged to this world for the sake of his son.

And now here they were, on the eve of another such child being born.

Gods help them all.

"Stay with me?" Mrs. Gold asked, blue eyes shining bright.

The Dark One nodded. "Yes, of course, sweetheart." He nodded again, taking her hand to squeeze it reassuringly. 

The nurse hoped he enjoyed the use of his fingers while his circulation was still at top notch order. Women in labor, in love with their husbands or not, were not known for being careful when they held onto someone else's hands during contractions. 

But the Dark One seemed oblivious to his future as he said earnestly, "Of course I'll be there. Every step of the way, Belle. I'm not leaving you."

The head nurse felt her lips rebel into a smile at the scene, but her more practical side observed how the Dark One paled even as he made his promise.

Experience told her that it was fear. Naked and uncontrollable.

Perfectly understandable as well, when the woman who carried his child was about to face a procedure their instincts said were unpredictable. Modern medicine was a definite upside in this world, but it did not erase a lifetime lived in a world where a birthing bed was as dangerous as any battlefield.

And the Dark One had lived in that world for centuries.

The town had never settled on an opinion on the Golds' marriage. Most people thought it was this world's version of the deal the girl had made in their world, but there were a few whispers from those close to Snow White - and therefore to the Dark One, if only because he and the queen shared a grandson - that there was true fondness in the marriage.

Now she bet that there was fondness and more, to make the most powerful and merciless man in the world look so scared.

"This way," she told them once his wife was comfortable, and then started leading them to what had been appointed as Mrs. Gold's room weeks ago. 

And all through the next hours an insistent voice kept whispering in her head. With irrefutable proof that the Dark One had a weakness, what would he be willing to offer in exchange for her silence?

 

The End  
28/11/16


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